I want to feel better mentally

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I want to feel better mentally. The thing going on is that I'm usually a depressed and anxious person and no matter what anybody tries to tell me, I have a hard time listening to advice. It seems that I get all down on myself, a friend prompts me to "be happy", I get angry at them for prompting me, I feel negative about being prompted. It's all a re-enforcing cycle. I can't even break free from it.

And don't try to suggest changing my thought patterns. I try that, but my brain is always in auto-pilot no matter what, and thus it doesn't "pop" in my head in the moment saying "how can I re-frame this?", and another problem is, I don't know how to "re-frame" something. I try to explain that I can't mentally process how to re-frame my thoughts.

I have this same problem. It's like when I tell people that I struggle to know what to do with my life, then they have the cheek to ask me to write ideas down on a piece of paper.... as if i've never tried that or thought of doing that before..... they just don't understand the complex issues contained within the cobwebs of my mind.

You may not need to re-frame in the moment. What about looking back and replaying moments allowing yourself more than one choice. Look for the "shades of gray", alternate explanations, exceptions to the "rule".

If I thought people were ignoring me when I forced myself to say "hi", I might jump to the conclusion that "I'm dumb" or "weird" or something negative, but that may not be the reason. Maybe they were having a bad day, or didn't hear me (people say they can't hear me often).

As you get used to observing that good things can happen, and bad things can't always be due to you, you may be encourage to find that this expanded view of the world finds it's way into your "auto pilot" program too.

Also, if your system produces lower amounts of serotonin (like me), anti-depressants may help out as well.